Wednesday, February 16, 2011

At school this afternoon we looked out the window of our teacher office space to see this wee visitor wandering along the bank. It's seems to be a lone pukeko and has been wandering in and out of our school since late last year. I just think it's neat that we're in the biggest city in NZ and we still have all this wonderful wildlife around us.

These piles of paper are lying on the floor of my office at home and need to be sorted. I made a start before I got sick and have yet to get back to them. I find the best thing to do is shut the door and ignore it.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Tonight I made a salad for dinner which included lettuce, tomatoes and celery that Devin had grown. There was something kind of cool about going out to the garden and picking fresh vegetables for our dinner.

... Black Doris plums and my favourite lollies imported from the USA. I adore Black Doris plums and get frustrated with the fact that they can be quite hard to get. Fortunately we found these at a roadside market garden stall over in Hobsonville. As for the lollies - there are no yummier jelly beans then Jelly Bellys as far as I'm concerned, and I love anything in the Skittles and Wonka range. I was very excited to discover The Candyman in Mount Eden as they have all my favourite brands with varieties that you just can't get in NZ. Yum!

Today was spent attending meetings at school and finishing off my last minute preparation for school. Had fun punching out all the letters and assembling this title for my "Topic" wall. The hardest part was stopping the dog walking all over it while it was spread out on the lounge floor.

First "Teacher Only" day of the year was spent here. Murray Gadd was the keynote speaker and was awesome as always. In the afternoon we went to workshops. I attended one workshop and presented one as well. Had fun catching up with old friends, although I was still exhausted from being sick. Couldn't eat the lovely lunch that was provided either.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Still in bed - feeling better but rather tired. I actually have to present at a Cluster School's conference on Written Language tomorrow (#1 of 2 Teacher Only Days before school resumes on Thursday). Could be interesting. Being the good wee thing that I am I sat in bed today and worked on my presentation and some planning in between sleeping.

Day 2 of being stuck in bed feeling very sorry for myself - so much for being well rested before school starts. This is another cellphone photo - this is my 2 cats who sat on the bed with me all day and kept me company.

Loss of TV signal became the least of my problems on Friday night as less than 30mins later I started what was to become several horrid hours of a gastric illness. Needless to say today was spent lying around trying to replace all the fluid I'd lost. It took the best part of 24 hours to get through that one bottle of Powerade - my stomach wasn't up to much more.

Weather conditions messed up our Friday night TV viewing. Initially it was rain fade - eventually it became total loss of signal due to stormy conditions and now signal won't come back!! No TV until Tuesday thanks to the public holiday on Monday.

Today was actually my wedding anniversary, but rather than go with the obvious I decided to go with this picture instead. We spent the day with my nephew who only turned 2 a couple of weeks ago. He is really big on matching colours together and often lines up items by stacking together all those which are the same colour. If you move them around he gets very grumpy and quickly puts them back where they belong. He's even been known to leave red crayons in his red dresser drawer, blue crayons in the blue, green crayons in the green - well you get the idea.

This one was taken on my cellphone as my camera battery had died - qualities not great but you get the idea. Main highlight of today was shopping for the things Devin and I needed for school. Bank account took a wee bit of a hammering.

We found this sign at the top of a rather narrow one way street in Parnell. It had us giggling because the "straight ahead" road wasn't all that obviously straight ahead as it veered off to one side of the building which was directly in front of us.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Today David and Devin got to go in the Shark Tank at Kelly Tarlton's here in Auckland. They were safely behind the mesh and perspex floor of the viewing cage and all kitted up with snorkeling gear. The tank was submerged to a depth of about 5 feet. The sharks just kept gliding on by. Unfortunately my camera doesn't have the ability to take really decent photos so I haven't posted the photos I took as they were quite grainy. However, I was really pleased with this shot I took of the clown fish in one of the aquariums. I had the flash off and used the macro feature.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Today was spent engaged in the annual ritual of setting up my classroom ready for the new school year. I spent several hours at school today working out the best way to get all my furniture and other bits and pieces to fit. Next step is getting all the stuff on the wall that needs to be there, labelling tote-trays, etc. This picture shows about 2/3 of my room - the angle of the photo makes it look bigger then it really is.

Tidied my home office today. Not the most exciting of days really but it needed to be done. The up side is I now have clear space to work on my scrapbooking (my not so secret obsession). Today's photo is of some of the scrapbooking tools and embellishments that sit on my desk. I played with the "Antique" option in my photo editing software. I quite like the final result.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

We went to King's Plant Barn with my mum today. I wasn't planning on buying anything but when I saw this pot full of flowers I just had to have it. We don't have a lot of flowers around our place and I was feeling the lack so I impulsively went ahead and bought it.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

I've posted today's photo in both black and white and colour as I can't decide which I prefer. I can't get over how pale my skin is! Anyway, I can't take credit as the photographer today as I'm the subject. My husband is the photographer today. I chose this picture because the most significant thing that happened today was getting to meet up with a school friend I hadn't seen since we were both 13. He and I had made contact via Facebook last year and have caught up online since then - gotta love the power of social networks. We had a great afternoon catching up and it was neat to see that even though we're older we're still pretty much the same.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Wasn't sure what to photograph today. Devin said, "What about Syriana?" So here is Syriana the budgie and his best mate Devin. Devin has had him for almost a year - he was just a baby when we brought him home. Devin has handled him daily and Syriana is now quite tame. He'll sit on our shoulders, perch on the furniture and is starting to say "Hello" and "Devin". He has a repertoire of whistles and squeaks that Devin has taught him and will sit there for hours whistling, chatting and chirping away to himself.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Today Devin and I joined my sister and nephew on a shopping trip to the local mall. We stopped for lunch, as you do, and I managed to catch this gorgeous expression on my nephew's face. A busy food court is not the easiest place to get a decent photo; so I've played with it a bit to get rid of as many of the people in the background as I could. I'm sure there is flash stuff I could use/do but this worked for now.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

One thing about taking a photo every day is that most of the time you're just living your ordinary life, doing ordinary things. This has meant that I've had to look at my home environment in a different way in order to find a subject worth photographing. Today I decided to continue my experiment with close up photography and take a picture of these guys. They go on my bed each day and are all special in some way. The dog is a reminder of an Aussie Terrier I used to own (best dog ever!) and the orangutan used to belong to my dad and was one of his favourite animals. The Mushy Belly is the latest addition - a Christmas present from my youngest sister who knows how much of a big kid I am and how I still like toys.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Tuesday and Thursday are always the days I talk to Mum on the phone. We both live in the same town, but with work and daily life we don't see each other every week. This ritual is important to both of us and we make every effort to keep this time available for our chats. Often we chat about nothing in particular, other times we discuss and debate all sorts of local, national and political issues. I just love that Mum and I have such a close relationship.
(Playing with the macro function today).

Monday, January 10, 2011

Devin and I started our exercise programme today. I want to build my cardio-vascular fitness and walk off some Christmas chocolates. Devin is working towards his latest goal of being fit enough to join the Air Force. He changes his mind about career options on a fortnightly basis at the moment - which is totally ok with me. That backpack contains 10kg of extra weight (he weighed it himself) - he told me that by the time he's ready to join the AIr Force he'll need to be able to run with 20kg extra on his back. Got to admire a teen with goals.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

It was my nephew's second birthday today. My mother and sister had spent yesterday creating these delightful little guys for his birthday cake. I thought they were gorgeous. As my nephew is a HUGE Wiggles fan, my sister had a Wiggles theme party for him. He loved every bit of it.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

The boys and I had dinner at Long Bay Beach this evening, followed by a walk along the shore line. I loved watching the seagulls floating on the up drafts but my camera isn't impressive enough to get a good photo of them. As we wandered along I came across this delicate arrangement just sitting there begging to be photographed. I particularly like how the light from the setting sun is hitting the seed head and giving it a luminous effect.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Merlin is of the opinion that our deck lounger belongs to him. Each morning he settles down there for the day and stays until someone else wants his space or it's time to come in for the night. He has done this every summer since I got the lounger. Makes you wonder who's really in charge around here?

Thursday, January 6, 2011

My son loves the Play Station and will spend hours on it if allowed to do so. I have really admired his restraint over the last couple of days as he has decided that he shouldn't spend all day gaming. He's made a rule that he has to do other things in the morning and won't allow himself to start gaming until after lunch. He's even managed to do dishes 2 days in a row, without complaint and without being asked, BEFORE going near the PS3.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Whenever we have fish and chips for dinner these 3 hover anxiously hoping that some dainty morsel will magically come their way. If they're really lucky they might get a tiny piece of fish (with batter removed of course).

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

We went to Parakai Hot Springs today. We'd never been there before so it was a first for all of us. We had a fantastic day and spent several hours there soaking, playing, bonding and creating another family memory. The indoor pool was lovely and warm - my kind of pool. This shot captures Devin just lying back and "chillaxing" as he terms it.

Monday, January 3, 2011

The reason my son and nephew are on the outside of the pool on such a hot day is because my nephew refused to get into the pool. He was quite happy swishing his hands in the water but as soon as anyone suggested he get in they were met with a chorus of "No, no, no. no, no!" Everyone else was playing in the water, pouring it on him and climbing in and out of the pool themselves in an attempt to convince him. He was not convinced.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Spent a few hours at Waiake Beach this afternoon with my boys. A huge milestone for me as I'm not over fond of sand on my feet or even sitting around in the heat of the day at the beach. (I prefer the beach when it's near dusk or during the wild winter storms). Another big step was my going into the ocean further than ankle depth - not once, but twice! I usually won't go near anything colder than bath temperature - but it was sooo hot sitting in the sun. The water was surprisingly warm.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

This is part of the patio vegetable garden my son planted yesterday. Today as he was getting the hose ready to water it the entire fitting came away and he was absolutely showered in water. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I missed the event but did capture this image of his garden later this afternoon. I admire that he has a green thumb and an interest in gardening - something I do not possess at all.

Welcome to my newest blog. With my love of photography and photographic images I've decided that this year I'll give the 365 photo challenge a go. I can't promise amazing feats of photographic genius on a daily basis, or even at all. What I'm hoping for is a photographic record of my year, and the achievement of actually persevering and posting a picture every day for a year. Feel free to visit and follow my journey through the ups and downs of 2011 as I head towards my 40th birthday in December - a milestone in and of itself.